An Analysis of Taste Variety within Households on Soft Drinks

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Analysis of Multiple Discrete-Continuous Choices: Empirical Evidence of Biased Price Elasticities under Standard Discrete Choice models on the Soft Drink Market

The New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) literature allows to analyze competition, market power and welfare implications of public policies. This literature is based on the estimation of consumer substitution patterns, that is on the estimation of demand models. Standard discrete choice models are commonly used and assume that the consumer chooses only one unit of a single alternative. However, panelists are often shoppers making decisions for the entire household. A household is composed of several persons with various tastes. The current NEIO literature then often omits multiple brand choice and quantity choice of a product representing multiple tastes within the household. To tackle this point, we model multiple discrete/continuous choices of households following Bhat (2005a). Moreover, we deal with observed and unobserved household heterogeneity as well as omitted variable problem that occurs in this type of consumer choice model. Using French purchase data on the Soft Drink Market, we show that consumer substitution patterns could be biased if multiple brand and quantity choices are not taken into account. Indeed, our results suggest that own price elasticities could be significantly underestimated

Analysis of Multiple Discrete-Continuous Choices: Empirical Evidence of Biased Price Elasticities under Standard Discrete Choice models on the Soft Drink Market

The New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) literature allows to analyze competition, market power and welfare implications of public policies. This literature is based on the estimation of consumer substitution patterns, that is on the estimation of demand models. Standard discrete choice models are commonly used and assume that the consumer chooses only one unit of a single alternative. However, panelists are often shoppers making decisions for the entire household. A household is composed of several persons with various tastes. The current NEIO literature then often omits multiple brand choice and quantity choice of a product representing multiple tastes within the household. To tackle this point, we model multiple discrete/continuous choices of households following Bhat (2005a). Moreover, we deal with observed and unobserved household heterogeneity as well as omitted variable problem that occurs in this type of consumer choice model. Using French purchase data on the Soft Drink Market, we show that consumer substitution patterns could be biased if multiple brand and quantity choices are not taken into account. Indeed, our results suggest that own price elasticities could be significantly underestimated

Faire la biographie d’un charlatan ?

Joseph-Xavier Tissot (1780-1864), plus connu sous le nom de frère Hilarion, est un curieux personnage que l’on trouve cité dans des ouvrages d’histoire de la psychiatrie ou d’histoire religieuse. Après un bref séjour à la Trappe d’Aiguebelle, il participe à la refondation en France de l’ordre de Saint Jean de Dieu. Puis il fonde de nombreux asiles d’aliénés, avant le vote de la loi de 1838. Présenté par certains auteurs comme un précurseur des aliénistes, il mène, par la plume, un combat acharné contre l’appropriation du soin psychiatrique par le corps médical. Figure fantasque, ce charlatan de la médecine laisse de nombreux écrits autobiographiques qui permettent de lui donner le titre de « charlatan de l’histoire ».Joseph-Xavier Tissot (1780-1864), better known by the name of brother Hilarion, is a strange character who is mentioned in books on history of psychiatry or religious history. After a short stay at the Trappe d’Aiguebelle, he participated in reforming the order of Saint Jean de Dieu in France. Next, he founded numerous insane asylums before the 1838’s law was voted. He was presented by some authors as a precursor of the "alienist movement" because he led a difficult struggle in his writings to prevent the medical profession from appropriating psychiatric care. This medical charlatan, a whimsical character, left behind him many autobiographical writings which have allowed us to give him the title of "historical charlatan"

Faire la biographie d’un charlatan ?

Joseph-Xavier Tissot (1780-1864), plus connu sous le nom de frère Hilarion, est un curieux personnage que l’on trouve cité dans des ouvrages d’histoire de la psychiatrie ou d’histoire religieuse. Après un bref séjour à la Trappe d’Aiguebelle, il participe à la refondation en France de l’ordre de Saint Jean de Dieu. Puis il fonde de nombreux asiles d’aliénés, avant le vote de la loi de 1838. Présenté par certains auteurs comme un précurseur des aliénistes, il mène, par la plume, un combat acharné contre l’appropriation du soin psychiatrique par le corps médical. Figure fantasque, ce charlatan de la médecine laisse de nombreux écrits autobiographiques qui permettent de lui donner le titre de « charlatan de l’histoire ».Joseph-Xavier Tissot (1780-1864), better known by the name of brother Hilarion, is a strange character who is mentioned in books on history of psychiatry or religious history. After a short stay at the Trappe d’Aiguebelle, he participated in reforming the order of Saint Jean de Dieu in France. Next, he founded numerous insane asylums before the 1838’s law was voted. He was presented by some authors as a precursor of the "alienist movement" because he led a difficult struggle in his writings to prevent the medical profession from appropriating psychiatric care. This medical charlatan, a whimsical character, left behind him many autobiographical writings which have allowed us to give him the title of "historical charlatan"

Improvement of the hazard identification and assessment in application of the Seveso II directive (part II)

National audienceThe Council Directive 96/82/EC of 9 December 1996 on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, known as Seveso II Directive, aims at the prevention of major accidents in high risk industries, and the limitation of their consequences for human beings and environment. Although rules are well established to identify maximal hazard potential, there is no recognised method for taking into account, in the assessment of risk level, safety devices and safety management systems implemented by operators. This paper deals with the second stage of a global methodology aiming at better assessing benefits gained from safety devices and safety management systems, through accident scenarios selection. The methodology presented in this paper enables risk assessors and competent authorities to identify Reference Accidents Scenarios (RAS), by taking into account the influence of some safety barriers, in accordance with the Seveso II Directive requirements. This method could help stakeholders involved in the public risk-based decision-making process to evaluate the safety level of high-risk establishments. Since the risk management decisions are based on the risk assessment [12], and since the choices and hypothesis to define the RAS are arbitrary, there is a need to reach a consensus among all the stakeholders to limit the discrepancy in the decision and improve the transparency.La Directive européenne 96/82/EC du 9 Décembre 1982 sur le contrôle des accidents majeurs impliquant des substances dangereuses, connue également sous le nom de Directive Seveso II, a pour objectif la prévention des accidents majeurs dans les sites industriels à hauts risques, et la limitation de leurs conséquences pour les populations et l'environnement. Bien que les règles soient bien établies pour l'identification du risque potentiel, il n'y a pas de méthode reconnue pour la prise en compte, dans l'évaluation du potentiel maximal de danger, des dispositifs de sécurité et des systèmes de gestion de la sécurité mis en oeuvre par les exploitants. Cet article traite de la seconde étape d'une méthodologie générale, qui vise à mieux évaluer les améliorations apportées par les dispositifs de sécurité et des systèmes de gestion de la sécurité, à travers la sélection des scénarios d'accidents. La méthode présentée dans cet article permet aux évaluateurs du risque ainsi qu'aux autorités compétentes d'identifier les Scénarios Accidentels de Référence, qui prennent en compte l'influence de certaines barrières de sécurité, en accord avec les exigences de la Directive Seveso II. Cette méthode pourrait aider les parties prenantes impliquées dans le processus décisionnel de gestion publique basé sur les risques, afin d'évaluer le niveau de sécurité des établissements à hauts risques. Comme les décisions de gestion des risques sont basées sur l'évaluation des risques, et comme les choix et les hypothèses pour définir les Scénarios Accidentels de Référence sont arbitraires, il est nécessaire d'obtenir un consensus parmi les parties prenantes, afin de limiter les divergences dans les décisions et améliorer la transparence

Babesia and its hosts: adaptation to long-lasting interactions as a way to achieve efficient transmission

Babesia, the causal agent of babesiosis, are tick-borne apicomplexan protozoa. True babesiae (Babesia genus sensu stricto) are biologically characterized by direct development in erythrocytes and by transovarial transmission in the tick. A large number of true Babesia species have been described in various vertebrate and tick hosts. This review presents the genus then discusses specific adaptations of Babesia spp. to their hosts to achieve efficient transmission. The main adaptations lead to long-lasting interactions which result in the induction of two reservoirs: in the vertebrate host during low long-term parasitemia and throughout the life cycle of the tick host as a result of transovarial and transstadial transmission. The molecular bases of these adaptations in vertebrate hosts are partially known but few of the tick-host interaction mechanisms have been elucidated

More Insights into the Association between RVX-208 and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Reply

Therapeutic cell differentiatio

BET Signaling:A Novel Therapeutic Target for Pulmonary Hypertension? Reply

Therapeutic cell differentiatio

Local light-activation of the Src oncoprotein in an epithelial monolayer promotes collective extrusion

International audienceTransformed isolated cells are usually extruded from normal epithelia and subsequently eliminated. However, multicellular tumors outcompete healthy cells, highlighting the importance of collective effects. Here, we investigate this situation in vitro by controlling in space and time the activity of the Src oncoprotein within a normal Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cell monolayer. Using an optogenetics approach with cells expressing a synthetic light-sensitive version of Src (optoSrc), we reversibly trigger the oncogenic activity by exposing monolayers to well-defined light patterns. We show that small populations of activated optoSrc cells embedded in the non-transformed monolayer collectively extrude as a tridimensional aggregate and remain alive, while the surrounding normal cells migrate towards the exposed area. This phenomenon requires an interface between normal and transformed cells and is partially reversible. Traction forces show that Src-activated cells either actively extrude or are pushed out by the surrounding cells in a non-autonomous way